Shades of Grey
by AdenaMentzel
Summary: Amy comes to Seattle to visit her cousin Meredith when she runs into some old friends...[Xover w Judging Amy] Please review!
1. Chapter 1

As Amy Grey walked through Seattle-Tacoma airport, she didn't know exactly what she was getting herself into. She and her family had not had any contact with Thatcher Grey or his family since he had walked out on Ellis—and that wasn't by their own doing, either. Thatcher had distanced himself from everyone that he knew when he pursued a life with a new woman. Not that Amy and Thatch had ever been close, per se, although Amy's mother had been rather fond of Meredith. Which was why Maxine had sent her out to Seattle.

Amy didn't understand why Maxine, who was no retired, couldn't have come all the way out here instead, considering that Amy got very little time off in a year and generally wanted to spent every moment of that time with Lauren, who for the moment was staying with her father.

Amy sighed as she fished through her purse to locate her cell phone and the folded post-it note that contained Meredith's number, which she had been too lazy to store in her cell phone's memory. She grumbled as she dialed the number, making her way over to the baggage claim. She was almost positive that she wouldn't even recognize Meredith if she were to see her—she hadn't seen the younger woman since she was about five years old, which would have made it over two decades ago. It was probably a good thing that Amy was catching a cab, otherwise they would probably end up staring at each other for an hour before recognizing one another.

Predictably, the voicemail picked up. Amy knew that the schedule of a starting surgeon was considerably worse than her own. She grunted as she struggled to lift her suitcase and proceeded to leave a message.

"Hey, uh, Mer…it's Amy. I just wanted to, you know, let you know that I just got in so um…I'll be…checking into the hotel. Just give me a call when you can." Amy thought it would have been to awkward if she were to stay at Ellis' house, especially considering that she had never particularly cared for her aunt Ellis, and had actually found her to be frightening. That made it weird, also, that she had flown all the way out here to see how her cousin was doing after Ellis' death.

Once she had arrived at the hotel, she was waiting for the elevator to arrive. As she waited, a tall redheaded woman, who was approximately her age approached behind her, though neither paid any particular attention to the other. As they entered the entered the elevator they made eye contact, and both nearly jumped out of their respective skins.

"Addison Montgomery?" Amy inquired, not believing what she was seeing.

"Oh my God, Amy Grey!" The two women embraced briefly. "I haven't seen you since…"

"Since Mark broke up with me? Yeah. That was interesting." Amy and Mark had done undergrad together, their relationship developing into a romantic one in their senior year, and the most serious one that Mark had ever engaged in. Amy, Mark, Derek and Addison had spent most of their breaks with one another, when they coincided as Amy and Mark had attended Harvard while Addison and Derek were at Columbia. Addison had been furious with Mark when she found out that she had broken it off with Amy and had expressed her sentiments physically on several different occasions, resulting in several bruises that he had whined about for weeks.

"So what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Oh, just visiting my cousin. And you?"

"I live…wait…cousin? Please tell me that you don't mean Meredith Grey…" Addison pleaded.

"Well, I could tell you that, but…" The pain in Addison's eyes was enough to confuse and concern Amy, but she wasn't sure where their relationship stood, "okay, well, I'm not going to ask about that, but…what are you doing all the way out in Seattle?" Addison sighed.

"I'm afraid those two stories are kind of intertwined…but the short answer? I live here now. In this hotel." Amy was utterly confused, but nodded.

"We should have dinner…you know, catch up sometime."

"Well, what are you doing now?"


	2. Chapter 2

The two women met in the hotel restaurant an hour later, both desiring time to freshen up. When Amy entered she found that Addison was already sitting at the table waiting for her. The waiter was refilling a glass of wine that had evidently just been drained and Amy hoped that she hadn't been waiting for too long. She could see that the woman before her was slightly tipsy, and on further inspection discovered that she was still reasonably sober.

"Hey. I hope you haven't been waiting for that long."

"Nope." Addison said, shaking her head vigorously. "Just…two glasses of wine…so…ten minutes, maybe?"

"I think that means maybe you should slow down a bit, huh?" Addison had never been the best at holding her liquor, although she wasn't exactly a lightweight, either. Addison shrugged.

"So…it's been almost two decades. I guess a lot has happened since we saw each other last."

"Yep. So here I am, one daughter and one failed marriage later," Amy said with a sigh.

"Well, I bet your marriage didn't end as horribly as mine did. Guess that's what I get for marrying my college sweetheart."

"You married Derek? Really?" Addison nodded.

"We were married for over a decade. That's such a long time…and it's just…gone. Poof." The wine had clearly gone to Addison's head. She had always been somewhat of an emotional drunk. She was also entirely too forthcoming when drunk.

"What happened with you guys?"

"Oh the divorce? Funny you should mention that. It relates to your _wonderful_ little cousin, you see," Addison paused, downing the contents of her wineglass quickly, "'cause he fell in love with her. S'okay, though, 'cause it's my fault," she hiccups, covering her mouth and laughing bitterly, "I slept with Mark and Derek caught us and he just...left." Amy just sat there, stunned, not quite sure what to say.

"Yeah, yours is definitely a more interesting story than mine. But why'd you do it?"

"Duh! It's Mark." Amy glared,

"Addison, I know you better than that. I may not have spoken to you in many, many years but I know that you wouldn't do that."

"I was lonely, okay? And Mark was there…and he was pretty…and he saw me and he cared about me." Amy sighed. Apparently a lot had changed. Something that Addison had said earlier finally registered in Amy's mind, though.

"Wait—Derek is with my COUSIN!?" she spluttered, "that is so…so…ugh! Repulsive. I mean, I still think of her as being a kid, but honestly! What is he thinking?" Addison shook her head. Addison seemed to have sobered at the mention of Meredith and Derek.

"I do not know. You know what the sad thing is, though? I thought that I could win him back from her. I really thought that if I tried hard enough, he would fall out of love with her. So I stayed in my loveless marriage for months—I even fucking moved all the way out here for him, and this is how he treats me. He's living in a tin can, by the way. A trailer, a motherfucking trailer! He's like…nature man or something! I lived in a trailer for him and all he did was pay attention to that stick—I don't even see what's so attractive about her. And on Christmas he told me he still loved her!"

"Oh, Addison…I'm so sorry. That's low. Christmas was always your day! I can't believe that he did that to you. I mean, sleeping with Mark was by all means horrible, but at least it's logical. I never thought that Derek would do something that hurtful."

"Believe me, there are many, many more stories."

"Ew. I can't believe he's dating my cousin."

"He had sex with her. Multiple times while we were still married. Including the first night that he was in Seattle. And once at the hospital. We threw this prom for the Chief's niece. I was afraid that Derek wouldn't ask me, and then he did. But he had sex with her. Fifty feet away. I found her panties in his pocket." Amy's face was contorted into a grimace.

"That's…disgusting." Addison nodded vigorously. There was a slight lag in conversation as Addison realized that she had likely divulged too much information. She had probably gone overboard, but it was nice to have someone on her side for a change. A realization suddenly dawned on her.

"Oh…Ames, you should probably know that Mark works at the same hospital as all of us. I thought you should probably have a heads up. And also, he lives in this hotel, too." Amy groaned.

"Perfect." They were silent for several moments and looked absently over the menus, though paying little attention to it, already knowing what they would order. The waiter came by and they both ordered some form of a salad. Eventually Addison, who was swirling the wine in her glass, spoke.

"So, you have a daughter now?" Amy nodded, pulling her wallet out and showing her a picture.

"Her name is Lauren. She's twelve."

"She's cute," Addison says with a smile.

"So you and Derek never had any kids?" Addison shook her head sadly.

"I sometimes wonder if it would have made a difference. He always wanted them, but the time was never right. And then…he just loved his job more than he loved me. I thought about going off the pill and not telling him about it, but by the final years of our marriage, there really wouldn't have been a point. It wasn't like we had sex anymore anyway."

"Well, look at it this way. I have a kid, and I'm divorced. Kids complicate things." When Amy looked Addison in the eye, she saw that there were tears threatening to spill over. "Addison, you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…well, Mark got me pregnant. And when he found out he was…really happy. I had stopped taking my birth control because I was a complete wreck after Derek left. I got an abortion and…God, I keep wondering 'what if'. But you know what sucks the most? I may never have a child."

"Well, put it this way. You definitely wouldn't have wanted to have Mark's child."

"Might be better than no kid at all. I mean, even more than the perfect husband, I have always wanted to have a baby."

"You always had a weird love of babies, if I remember correctly." The waiter returned with their food as Addison attempted to hide the fact that she was blushing. They ate in silence for a while, Amy exhausted from the flight and Addison lost in thought. The rest of the meal went by without event, just light chitchat about unimportant matters like the weather.


End file.
